weaver of the unseen

I have to warn you. There has been one episode so far, and it was made in a similar style as Netflix's recent Rome docudrama. So, you can expect pauses in the story, whereas they'll be interviewingindustry figures and most prominent scientiest, while you wait to find out if the explorers survive.

To be honest, I'm not impressed by docudrama's but since I'm such a huge space nerd, I'll watch this anyways. Promise. LOL

Registered Alien

I just watched the opening episode.
I like the juxtaposition of 2016 scientists and technicians working out the real problems of establishing a Mars colony, and the 2033 fictional account of the first human mission. The combination may not be as thrilling as a straight science fiction production, but it brings an element of reality to the overall production.

weaver of the unseen

weaver of the unseen

What I cannot understand is why they couldn't split the team and keep commander under medical care at the lander, while four people goes to establish a base-camp? It seems that they're making all bad decisions and using the series to teach people example of most worst situations.

weaver of the unseen

The trailer I saw already annoyed me a great deal. I really didn't like the contractor angle and them being immediately hostile. Then again I also didn't understood how the scientist were so offended about the drill location?

When I saw the first season I felt excited until I realised it was a docudrama and an advertisement channel for NASA, ESA, Bigelow, Space-X and Blue Origin plus some carefully selected Big 4 authors. Now, I'm feeling about it being slightly better than Salvation, and that series is dreadfully awful.

Registered Alien

When I saw the first season I felt excited until I realised it was a docudrama and an advertisement channel for NASA, ESA, Bigelow, Space-X and Blue Origin plus some carefully selected Big 4 authors. Now, I'm feeling about it being slightly better than Salvation, and that series is dreadfully awful.

That is setting the bar pretty low.
I like bringing in some of the real people dreaming of and working toward getting humans to Mars in the near future. True, it is somewhat self-serving for those given screen time, but it's not as if most viewers can cough up the price for an off-planet ticket.
I find the series more inspirational than annoying.

weaver of the unseen

National Geographic's MARS Under the Stars Screening was at E.P. and L.P in West Hollywood. The drink menu was space inspired and the foodies were pleased too.

I got the chance to ask a few questions to Stephen Petranek, MARS scientific advisor, co-executive producer and Big Thinker; award-winning author of How We'll Live on Mars, upon which the series is based

1) Do you think humans living on Mars is too ambitious an idea?

There is really very little that's ambitious about humans wanting to live on Mars or being able to do so, because we've had all the technology we need to accomplish that for at least 30 years.

In the early 1970s, as the Apollo program was coming to an end, Werner von Braun, the great NASA rocket scientist, proposed that we land humans on Mars next. He thought it could be done by 1985. (We haven't had the rocket to do it until recently when SpaceX successfully tested its Falcon Heavy Rocket and NASA tested its SLS rocket, but that is a matter of will and investment.

The old Saturn 5 rocket that got us to the Moon reconfigured with more power in the second and third stages or with a fourth stage could have gotten us there long ago.) From habitats to space suits to growing food in greenhouses using the Martian soil, we're prepared. We have the technology we need to keep people alive on Mars indefinitely. That said, there would be enormous challenges and probably some dramatic failures along the way.

2) I am allergic to Penicillin, should I avoid space?

You're probably referring to the primitive microorganism we find on Mars in the series that threaten the Colonists. We don't know yet if there actually is life on Mars, but it is more doubtful than probable. And we don't know if that life will be threatening to humans. But we have many tricks up our sleeve, like sulfa drugs, that can attack a primitive bug we might become exposed to.

3) With what you have learned about Mars, and if you could go, how long would it take to prepare and how do you prepare?

You don't really have to prepare much as a passenger for the kind of Mars rocket that Elon Musk foresees SpaceX building. Yes, you'd need a few hours of training to know what to do in an emergency (not unlike what flight attendants go through for commercial airlines). And yes, you would be wise to build up your strength before the journey because you'll lose about 1% of your muscle mass for each month of weightlessness on the journey there.

That said, on Mars you won't need nearly as much muscle strength as on Earth, because Mars only has 38% as much gravity force as Earth.

You would be wise to get involved in some serious talk therapy before you go to be certain your subconscious mind agrees with your conscious thoughts about what a glorious adventure it would all be. Psychological, rather than physical, health will be far more important if you leave Earth on a one-way trip to Mars.

weaver of the unseen

The fictional Mars society has certainly grown larger than it was previously seen. They start the season by talking about the terroforming our nearest companion, and yet, at the same time they are concerned about the arrival of the corporations.

With no rules, no laws, and certainly no law enforcement in place, there is nothing that the Mars society can do, when the corporation jettison their landing gear and almost bomb the Mars leader to Kingdom come. But, if you think about the way of how societys, especially our modern ones grow the corporations are the necessary evil, while the science community seems like an utopia.

They say that if there is profit to be made in the Mars, then of course, the entrepreneurs will go there, where the pioneers has already set up a frontier base to make money. You look the Expense and you'll see that their society was built by corporations and you accept it as the truth. But, if you want to keep the utopia going then you have to accept communism and that everyone shares everything. Communism cannot survive with hierarchical power structure with one person on the top getting all the benefits. Therefore, the scientists utopia cannot survive in the world that is much like ours. In the other hand, the corporation society is much like dystopia, with its people all working for one man, the executive of their company.

I didn't like the way the Corporation boss dictated how things are going to go forward, but in the same time I didn't like that the scientists felt greedy and not wanting to share what they had worked for so hard. The truth is, if they would work together, the scientists for being smarter they would exploit the corporations and make them to pay for every bit of work they have already done.

It is not like the corporations are alien entities and that they cannot be handled in the wild frontier. They want to profit, and cut the corners to maximise the profit in every turn, because that is what their policies dictate. In our society the companies cannot survive on pure will. But in the Mars, or out there, you can change rules and try something else.

The catch-22 is that the Mars science society isn't an independent entity. You can see in the Expanse same thing happened to their society as Mars isn't bowing towards Earth and the old ways. However, they couldn't get rid of the money, economy and everything else as the economy is present throughout the solar system.

In the long run, the corporations can go out there, they can establish exobases on their own, and do more colonisation then the scientists could ever dream about achieving by going down the long route. Planet by planet, one colony at the time is too slow for the humanity that has billions of members under its name. You almost have no choice but to be as ruthless as you can, because the nature out there is against you. It doesn't care if you cannot function one day. It doesn't give you freebies and pat your back, when you feel down.

To be frank, I like them showing the corporations being dicks, because they didn't plan for the water scarcity. Their thing isn't a well thought, it isn't even a well oiled machine, because they are in a rush to save themselves from the doom and certain colony failure.

So, what if the miners would have planned better and instead of taking with them extra equipment, they would have taken the patient man man and opted to work together instead of exploit scientists and their utopistic dreams?

I can see in the future the miners getting in trouble and the scientists not giving a flying ef, because they were badly treated from the beginning. Maybe that will the first step towards the independent Mars.

Registered Alien

2.01 We Are Not Alone
The Lukrum Corporation honchos, both on Earth and Mars, are appropriately repugnant.
It's the same old conflict -- pure pursuit of knowledge vs. impure pursuit of profits. What could this resource-stripping corporation possibly find on Mars that could hold enough value to justify the cost of getting it back to Earth?
Would the long-term plan be to develop a mirror economy on Mars and funnel money back to Lukrum stockholders on Earth? I guess I wasn't paying enough attention in economics class to understand this.

The Lukrum crew leader's declaration that his company isn't subject to any laws was ominous.

Well-Known Member

In 2.01 they were talking about humanity's longevity being dependent on colonizing other planets. As mentioned by REBerg, the conflict between purely scientific pursuits and commercial ones will be trouble. But for those hoping to escape the problems of living on Earth, those problems arise out of human nature; & fat chance of escaping that. Given enough time, there will surely be nations on Mars, and likely wars, too.

After Earth becomes uninhabitable, everyone will live on Mars, at least, those who can afford to. After many thousands of years, Earth will likely become inhabitable again, and those seeking to escape the problems of life on Mars, will want to go the Earth. Have fun acclimating to Earth's gravity, 3 times that of Mars!

weaver of the unseen

It seems that the life as we know it only gets harder in the future, but instead of pushing us to the physical limits, the corporations push their employees to edge of sanity. It's the same story as always, profit comes first.

I find it interesting that the scientists and the politicians at back at Earth blow in the same coal, while the corporations exploit every loophole. There are no laws in 2042 governing humanity's expansion. It is the same wild frontier as what it was, when America was colonised after Columbus found it back in 1492. The thing is that the bureaucrats cannot come up with an agreement, even thought that by 2042, human has been in space for almost a century. One thing that comes on top of everything is that: "There is no way to police the law."

At the Wild West it was the same thing, and eventually the communities solved the problem by giving law enforcement powers to a hired gun that acted then as a local sheriff. And so some of the outlaws became the law. But how can the scientists do the same thing at Mars, when they are born and raised through civil manners? The war and violence is the last thing they wanted to do over there.

How can we fix it, when there is no plans no effort to send security people with the explorers? We send there our best and our brightest, and then the bullies move in almost as if the high school and collage things are the norm for humanity. Is it because we want to have an utopia, but we cannot have it because we have given all the power to the elite to do whatever they want, while the normal humans suffer in their shadow. It is almost like the humanity really needs a shift towards the Star Trek like utopia, instead of going towards the Expanse like Chaos, while we dream about being able to do fantasy like Star Wars the reality.

I was surprised that the first space baby, and making more of them was the Life On Mars thing in episode. What surprised me more was their claim that the Martian wouldn't ever be stand the gravity at Earth. I'm pretty certain that is a false statement as that human could be able to adapt to the new gravity given enough of time.

What if we would learn from from the past and do as the Nat Geo Chief Editor says and try to better at over there then we did to our home world? What would stop us? Is Mars really the place where we are going go war on each other, because it's all we know? I hope not.

I also believe we are better people than those past explorers, who ignored thing that we now hold dear. Like the life of our fellow human being.

Fantastic episode. If you haven't checked the Mars yet, do it now, because this season seems to be turning out great. I also think it's a valuable investment in the BR or in the DVD format.